Police in northern Afghanistan say 160 schoolgirls were admitted to a local hospital after they were thought to be poisoned by the Taliban. It's the third such poisoning of Afghan schoolgirls in less than two weeks.

Attack timing a coincidence?

The girls "complained of headaches, dizziness and vomiting before being taken to the hospital," Hafizullah Safi, director of the Takhar health department, told CNN. Most were discharged within a few hours, Safi said.

Officials suspect their classrooms were sprayed with a toxic chemical by militants who oppose education for girls.

Last week, more than 120 girls and three teachers were hospitalized under similar circumstances. The Taliban denied responsibility for the May 23 attack. The day before, 40 girls were hospitalized at a different school.

Historically, the Taliban has been opposed to girls attending school, and had previously called for schools to be closed in northern Afghanistan. Conservative government officials have also opposed girls going to school.

Afghan schoolgirls being treated at the hospital

According to the BBC, some officials have attributed the attacks "to mass hysteria among schoolgirls," noting that few if any "have displayed long-term symptoms of poisoning." Others, though, say the sheer number of students displaying symptoms cannot be entirely attributed to hysteria.

And it's not the first time Afghan schoolgirls have been targeted. In 2009, hundreds of girls were hospitalized in the Kapisa province in eastern Afghanistan in three attacks over as many weeks. In 2010, more than three dozen schoolgirls were hospitalized in a suspected poison attack at another girls school.

Tuesday's apparent attack comes a week after President Barack Obama signed off on a plan for U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Video: You Tube

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The 5th Estate.

Images: Google royalty free unless otherwise attributed.

This news site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

As we have seen so many times before the BBC has shown a distinct lean towards Israel or in this case a clear distortion of facts when it released a picture of the recent Houla massacre in Syria.

"Mainstream media" now nothing but shills for governments

Take a close look at their front page photograph and then compare it with the photograph taken by Marco Di Lauro 9 years earlier on 27th May 2003 in Al Musayyib Iraq and you can clearly see the lack of professionalism by the BBC.

I find it so unbelievable that the general public simply accept whatever is placed before them and in doing so accept this as being justification for going to war. Just by simply studying this photograph which are all children, you can see that each row consists of around 25 – 30 bodies and so one can assume that in this photograph we are looking at four rows amounting to at least 125 and yet there were only 49 children killed in Houla, Syria.

Can one ever imagine that this once very professional media outlet earned so much respect from the people of Britain and now it has fallen to below a sub quality standard.

Children murdered at Houla, were targeted by what now appears to be international intelligence agency killers

Just imagine that the people of Britain are having to pay a TV Licence fee of £145-50 to keep this appalling station on line and they even have the audacity to charge the blind who now get a “Half Price” licence.

What we are looking at here is exactly the same propaganda game the BBC played out in Libya with such striking resemblance. BBC were extremely good at manufacturing the Libyan Revolution and frequently withheld the names of the supposed rebels and their locations. Much of their footage at the time was clearly acted out in from of their camera’s and in some cases much to the embarrassment of the BBC as one can clearly see in this particular case.

The BBC is clearly losing its credibility as a news organization by faking, altering or even withholding the true status of what is actually happening on the ground. Many times one can see their standard line being “Though it was not possible to verify” or “Their accounts cannot be confirmed” shows clearly that there is no substance in their reporting. However, on the other hand one can almost totally rely on the authenticity of such channels as Press TV who tend to film such incidents as they happen.

As I have previously reported it is the west that is inciting unrest in Syria by openly arming and funding undisciplined militia with the added fact that the US, UK, Israel and France have their own special forces operating within Syria who are backed up by Intel Operatives from the CIA, MI5/6 and Mossad etc…..not forgetting security companies such as Blackwater.

It is time for the world to open their eyes to this terrible act of aggression and deceit that is currently being played out by the United Nations, Obama, Cameron and Hollande in seeking the truth.

We are clearly looking at yet another Libyan style regime change that will have terrible knock on consequences should a strike take place against Syria.

What we are likely to see here is yet another western testing ground for advanced illegal weaponry which will include extensive use of Depleted Uranium weaponry and Neutron Bombs etc with the same ability of destroying the genetics of not only Syria but neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and the entire Middle East.

I have reported before that when the Israelis attacked Lebanon in 2006 they also nuked themselves and again in 2008/9 when they hit Gaza………when will these maniacs understand that when they use the same weapons as were used in Libya the entire region becomes consumed in millions of radioactive nano particles that directly attack the human DNA.

What is so interesting about this current NATO push into taking action against Syria is the fact that Turkey is one of the member states and should they comply or assist in such an operation they will in actual fact be carrying out an act of genocide against their own people.

It is imperative for all the Islamic nations in the Middle East to fully understand that should they yet again take sides with the west, as they did in the case of Libya, they will all become victim to these highly illegal weapons that are clearly “Weapons of Mass Destruction” that violate at least 4 chapters of the Geneva Convention.

ISH/HE

Video: You Tube

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The 5th Estate.

Images: Google royalty free unless otherwise attributed.

This news site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

CRIMINAL COWARDICE are the accurate words; lies of murderers Kan and Edano doomed millions of people worldwide to death from radiation cancers, exposure; Kan now trying to play sympathy card to save own ass

Japan's prime minister at the height of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis has admitted he often felt "helpless" during the early days of the disaster, adding that the facility's triple meltdown had brought the country close to "national collapse."

Lying murderer Kan trying to save own skin

Speaking at a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of the incident on Monday, Naoto Kan urged Japan to abandon nuclear power, as the industry attempts to bring closed reactors back into operation.

Kan, who resigned last September amid criticism of his handling of the crisis, has become one of Japan's most vocal opponents of nuclear power.

His successor, Yoshihiko Noda, has argued in favour of restarting reactors deemed safe to avoid electricity shortages this summer.

In comments that were among the most eagerly awaited in the six-month public enquiry, Kan said inadequate explanations from nuclear officials drafted in to brief him on the situation at the plant had only increased his sense of fear.

He reserved his harshest criticism for officials from the nuclear and industrial safety agency, the country's main regulatory body.

"I was frightened and felt helpless," he told the panel, set up after a previous government investigation was criticised as timid. "You can't expect a nuclear expert to be prime minister or a cabinet minister, so we need top regulatory officials to provide expertise and help us. We didn't have those people."

Serial murderer and liar extraordinaire Yukio Edano now trying to save his own ass by claiming ignorance, blaming (correctly) TEPCO

He pointed to fundamental weaknesses in Japan's readiness to deal with a disaster as serious as the 14-metre tsunami that caused three of Fukushima Daiichi's reactors to go into meltdown.

A law to improve the country's ability to address a nuclear disaster introduced after a fatal accident at a uranium processing plant in Tokaimura in 1999 was found wanting, he said.

The four melted-down reactors at Fukushima continue to spew unknown amounts of radiation into the atmosphere: Kan, Edano, TEPCO, U.S. government, "mainstream media" responsible for cover-up, suppression of real fallout numbers

"Everything anticipated in the law was inadequate, and we had to endure all kinds of trouble that we could have done without," he said.

Assessments of the aftermath of Fukushima tell a story of confusion at the site, and a lack of communication between Tepco, safety officials and the government. The accident has fuelled criticism of the "nuclear village" – regulators, utilities, bureaucrats and pro-nuclear scientists – who, Kan said, were again working together to restart reactors despite local concerns over safety.

Long-awaited reform of the safety agency has been held up by opposition parties, which have demanded that the new body be given more independence from the nuclear agency.

Kan denounced close ties between power companies and their regulators as "the root of the illness" whose symptoms became most apparent during the Fukushima crisis.

But he added: "The nuclear accident was caused by a nuclear plant that operated as national policy, so I believe the biggest portion of blame lies with the state."

His testimony shed light on the disarray at the heart of the small group of officials tasked with leading Japan's emergency response, but it failed to resolve accusations that Kan's actions in the immediate aftermath had worsened the situation.

He said Tepco and the nuclear safety agency had hidden key details from him in the days after 11 March, adding that he had been as open as possible with the public based on the information he had been given.

Kan said he had feared further meltdowns that could result in the evacuation of Tokyo – a metropolitan area of more than 30 million people. Deserting the capital, he added, would have brought the government to a standstill and led to "a collapse of the nation's ability to function".

He defended his demand that Tepco officials remain on duty after being told that the firm planned to evacuate its staff from the plant. The company has claimed that it never intended to abandon the facility, but would have retained a core of engineers to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.

Kan also defended his hastily arranged visit to the plant the day after the tsunami, dismissing accusations that his presence hindered the operation to prevent catastrophic meltdown during its most critical phase.

He disputed Tepco's claims that he had ordered the utility to stop injecting seawater into the stricken reactors to keep them cool. Yoshida, who took early retirement last year after being diagnosed with cancer, ignored the order and has been credited with preventing an even worse accident.

Kan's opposition to nuclear power has not weakened since his resignation. Citing the risk of a "national collapse" from a similar accident in future, he said the Fukushima crisis had convinced him that "the best way to make nuclear power plants safe is not to depend on them, but not to have them at all".

Noda, meanwhile, is expected to decide soon whether to order the restart of two reactors in Oi, western Japan, amid fears of a power shortfall during the height of the summer.

Videos: You Tube

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The 5th Estate.

Images: Google royalty free unless otherwise attributed.

This news site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

The agency was recently forced to release its list after a freedom of information request was submitted by privacy watchdog, Electronic Privacy Information Center. Some of the words like "Al Qaeda" and "Taliban" are pretty much self-explanatory. But others like "pork" and "sick" make no sense until you hear the agency's explanation about its program monitoring social networks not only for signs of terrorism, but also for public health threats and natural disasters.

Of course, if your Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking profiles are set to private, you don't have anything to worry about. And there's really no reason why you can't use these words even if you have public profiles... unless you're strongly opposed to the government keeping tabs on you. Check out the full list of words below and the full document on Scribd.

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The 5th Estate.

Images: Google royalty free unless otherwise attributed.

This news site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

At the height of the recession, Congress passed a law to boost unemployment assistance to up to 99 weeks: The unemployed would receive federal money instead of state funds if they continued to be jobless past the traditional period of six months. In February, Congress extended this law, but added rules that would draw down the number of weeks the government would pay for, based on whether a state's jobless rate had decreased and other factors. Now, only three states still offer 99 weeks of assistance, and all three will stop doing so in September.

More than 5 million Americans have been out of work for more than six months, down from a high of more than 6 million two years ago. Supporters of extending benefits say they stimulate the economy and provide a crucial safety net for vulnerable workers, but those opposed say they discourage people from finding work.

Money that should have gone to feed these now homeless American children being spent by Taliban for new 4X4 luxury trucks, weapons, ammunition to kill more American servicemen and women

Meanwhile, some states, independently of the federal government, have made it more difficult for people to receive jobless benefits. The National Employment Law Project (NELP), a nonprofit that advocates for more support for unemployed people, filed suit against Florida, saying it wrongfully denied people jobless benefits. The group says only 15 percent of eligible people are receiving unemployment assistance in the state, the lowest rate in the nation. This is due in part to a new law passed last year that requires unemployed people to take an online "skills test" before qualifying to receive the roughly $275 per week in benefits, the Miami Herald reported. The state's unemployment rate has fallen to 8.7 percent from 10.6 percent a year ago.

Obama has emptied U.S. Treasury coffers for payoff money to Taliban scumbags, who now live quite well on American taxpayer money

Unemployment insurance is paid for by a tax on employers, and only people who were let go through no fault of their own are eligible to receive the funds. Some states also tax employees to fund the benefits.

Video: You Tube

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The 5th Estate.

Images: Google royalty free unless otherwise attributed.

This news site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

No doubt there are many Independent Media journalists on this kill list; scumbag murderer Obama, criminal CIA will eventually be prosecuted for these assassinations using it as evidence: U.S. government has no right to keep list secret, must be forced to reveal names of those Americans targeted for death by his illegitimate, coward, murdering criminal regime

And despite his liberal background, Obama has taken an aggressive approach to counterterrorism.

The Times said it interviewed three dozen current and former advisers to Obama, who described his "evolution since taking on the role, without precedent in presidential history, of personally overseeing the shadow war with Al Qaeda":

They describe a paradoxical leader who shunned the legislative deal-making required to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, but approves lethal action without hand-wringing. While he was adamant about narrowing the fight and improving relations with the Muslim world, he has followed the metastasizing enemy into new and dangerous lands. When he applies his lawyering skills to counterterrorism, it is usually to enable, not constrain, his ferocious campaign against Al Qaeda—even when it comes to killing an American cleric in Yemen, a decision that Mr. Obama told colleagues was "an easy one."

Hillary (The Hag) Clinton will also be held responsible

Part of Obama's "evolution" on terror apparently began early in his term, when a drone strike resulted in civilian casualties:

Just days after taking office, the president got word that the first strike under his administration had killed a number of innocent Pakistanis. "The president was very sharp on the thing, and said, 'I want to know how this happened,'" a top White House adviser recounted.

In response to his concern, the C.I.A. downsized its munitions for more pinpoint strikes. In addition, the president tightened standards, aides say: If the agency did not have a "near certainty" that a strike would result in zero civilian deaths, Mr. Obama wanted to decide personally whether to go ahead.

"The care that Mr. Obama and his counterterrorism chief take in choosing targets," the Times said, "and their reliance on a precision weapon, the drone, reflect his pledge at the outset of his presidency to reject what he called the Bush administration's 'false choice between our safety and our ideals.'"

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The 5th Estate.

Images: Google royalty free unless otherwise attributed.

This news site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

American voters don't remember either; and it's because they don't give a damn

Progressive Avenues
By Luke Hiken
05/28/2012

I Don’t Remember:

1) Voting to wage war against every Muslim nation that is not a pawn of U.S. capital.

2) Voting to support the use of unmanned drones as murder weapons against civilian populations.

3) Voting to characterize corporations as “people” for purposes of buying elections, and destroying whatever vestiges of democracy that might have existed in the U.S.

4) Voting to bail out Wall Street gangsters who destroyed the U.S. economy. I know I did not vote to immunize these crooks from prosecution for their theft of the wages and earnings of the American people.

5) Voting to destroy our educational system by indenturing students with impossibly burdensome loans and creating annual tuitions that only the super rich can afford.

6) Voting to construct the largest prison system in the world, imprisoning African-American and Latino/Chicano prisoners at 5 times their number in the U.S. population.

7) Voting to deport more than ½ million non-immigrants from this country during Obama’s term of office alone, in spite of the fact that nobody else will perform the services they provide to the American people. The cultural and social losses created by our endless detainments and deportations are as destructive as the economic considerations of our policies.

8) Voting to allow oil companies and their cohorts to reap unimaginable profits to the detriment of the U.S. people, while destroying the natural resources of the earth.

9) Voting to wage war on women’s rights to abortion, birth control, and an equal wage for their work.

10) Voting to permit corporations to export our jobs oversees, while paying no taxes on their obscene profits earned by paying slave wages to poor people throughout the world.

11) Voting to immunize police departments and hired mercenaries for their ongoing repression and violence against poor people and minorities.

12) Voting to legalize torture and renditions as national policy and practice.

13) Voting to allow the Pentagon to decide who is a criminal and who is not, and to imprison anybody anywhere, without probable cause, according to their militaristic worldview.

14) Voting to demand “austerity” from poor people, while allowing the greediest monsters that have ever lived to rule this nation and to thrive economically.

15) Voting to allow the pharmaceutical and insurance industries to deprive the American people of affordable health care and, thereby impoverishing the poor and disabled.

16) Voting to allow Christian fanatics to demonize gay people, the poor, and the marginalized from the benefits of our society.

17) Voting to allow vulture banks to steal people’s homes and profit from their newly created homelessness.

18) Voting to allow 1% of the population to control more than 40% of the wealth of the nation.

BUT, I will certainly remember these things when either the Democrats or the Republicans ask me to vote for them in November.

________________________________

Luke Hiken is an attorney who has engaged in the practice of criminal, military, immigration, and appellate law.

The Progressive Avenues website, www.progressiveavenues.org, is regularly updated in the “What’s Added, What’s New” link on the Home page, at http://www.progressiveavenues.org/Whats_New_Added.html

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The 5th Estate.

Images:Google royalty free unless otherwise attributed.

This news site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

We have already discussed in the first part of this analysis how the American geography dooms whoever controls the territory to being a global power, but there are a number of other outcomes that shape what that power will be like. The first and most critical is the impact of that geography on the American mindset.

This e-mail outlines and confirms the acts of espionage against Indonesia and Indonesians by Akiko Makino and the others involved both in Kobe University and in AI Lab at University of Airlangga, Surabaya; Bahasa Indonesia original follows English translation...

The 5th Estate has just purchased a library on H5N1 "Novel" virus pandemics, there are dozens of PDF and Exel documents we feel will assist you in saving lives following intentional releases of the H5N1 and now MERS viruses; we will begin by printing those that appear to be extremely relevant here: H5N1 Kobe-Kawaoka-Ernala series continues soon with more "Smoking Gun" e-mails from Teridah Ernala to The 5th Estate . . .